Cooperative Research Centers Research Articles

Toward a conceptual model of cooperative research: patterns of development and success in university-industry alliances

A stage model of cooperative research between universities and industry using the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored industry-university cooperative research centers (IUCRC) as a study sample is proposed. The model is a step above simple retrospective characterization of such cooperation in that causal factors are suggested. This study shows that certain critical events cluster around definable and discrete phases of organizational evolution of IUCRCs. Centers change, adapt, and search for an appropriate mode of operation in stages, redefining their objectives and refining their communications and organization processes. This continual sequential development and the identification of factors which impinge on each stage provides an explanatory mode of how centers evolve and how and why they succeed or fail. These findings are an encouraging note in the search for a predictive theory of cooperative scientific research. >

Factors in the Success or Failure of Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers

We studied 23 federally supported industry-university cooperative research centers and identified 22 organizational, managerial, and psychological factors that seem to contribute to the success or failure of the founders and managers of these centers, hence to the success or failure of the centers themselves. We grouped the factors into five categories: (1) relations with the focal university; (2) relations with industry; (3) internal management; (4) research and technology strategies; and (5) individual attributes of the founders and managers. Examples from actual chronologies of a successful and a nonsuccessful center seem to indicate that the attributes of the individual founders and managers and their relations with the focal university are the best predictors of success in the early stages of the life of a center, whereas relations with industry and internal management are the best predictors of success of a center in the later stages. Managers of centers and center constituents may be able to assess and predict the success or failure of a center, at any stage of its life, with a very small set of factors, thus allowing center managers to take corrective actions to improve their chances of success.

Factors affecting the transfer of technology from industry/university cooperatives to sponsoring companies

This paper illuminates the technology-transfer process by identifying the factors affecting the implementation decisions of sponsor companies with regard to eight projects conducted at two industry/university cooperative-research centers. Telephone interviews with corporate-sponsor representatives provided the data. The factors reported most often as influential in the decision of whether or not to use research results were relevance of the project, researcher's ability to demonstrate the usefulness of the results, and the quality of communication with the researcher. When results were not used, lack of company support and lack of communication within the company also appeared to be influential. The end result of these analyses is a model depicting the factors that affect the implementation decision.

Evaluation and service delivery research in the area of severe intellectual disability in Australia

While research findings are not necessarily the most potent factors in determining service provisions for people with disabilities, research does play an important role in establishing whether program goals are being met as well as assisting service providers in achieving their goals. In the context of severe intellectual disability the current research leterature is often flawed by the quite imprecise definitions used to identify the people being studied, leading to difficulties in the interpretation of the results. Suggestions are made that may help to reduce these and other methodological deficiencies. A range of pressing research questions relating to service delivery programs are raised. Finally, it is suggested that cooperative research centres of excellence should be established in Australia along similar lines to the North American Research and Training Centres in Mental Retardation and the University Affiliated Programs.

Cooperative research and rising expectations: Lessons from NSF's industry/university cooperative research centers

Over the past 20 years, both state and federal governments have adopted policies of promoting industry/university cooperation as a means of influencing the process of technological innovation. The goals of early programs were to indirectly influence innovation by improving communication between the two sectors. The expected benefits of cooperative research have become more ambitious over the years, with many policy makers now arguing that such programs can have direct consequences for economic development. The National Science Foundation's Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers Program is one of the older government initiatives. It was developed during the 1970's with the goals of improving communication between the two sectors and increasing industrial support of university research. Lessons from the longitudinal evaluation of this program are reviewed and the implications for the newer, more ambitious programs are discussed.

Government supported industry-university research centers: Issues for successful technology transfer

In order to increase the use of federally supported research and development to increase U.S. industrial competitiveness, new partnerships are being developed among the research producers, users, and funders. This paper summarizes the evolution of federal technology transfer models with particular attention to university-industry cooperative research centers sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The advantages and potential problems associated with such centers are presented and the implications for technology and innovation are discussed.

University/Industry Cooperative Research Centers Are Proving Themselves

University/Industry Cooperative Research Centers Are Proving Themselves

Analytical Chemists Focus on Process Control

Process analytical chemistry. It's not a term most academic scientists are familiar with. However, a group of chemists and engineers at the University of Washington, Seattle, are working to change that. Those scientists believe that developing the ability to monitor industrial processes on-line is one of the major current challenges in analytical chemistry. That stance is not all that surprising because the scientists are affiliated with the university's Center for Process Chemistry (CPAC). One of the National Science Foundation's industry-university cooperative research centers, CPAC was set up in mid-1984 by two Washington chemistry professors, Bruce R. Kowalski and James B. Callis, who are codirectors of the center. Analytical chemistry missed the boat some years ago when chemists decided that, given the choice, analyses would be done in a laboratory, Kowalski says. If we had decided that analytical chemistry should be done at the site where the information is used, we would be in a ...

Manufacturing Systems Delphi Study

Abstract This paper presents the results of a Delphi inquiry carried out to determine the short and long range technology needs and plans of small and medium sized manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest. Policy directions which cooperative research centers might adopt to aid these enterprises are also examined. Delphi results demonstrated a strong consensus that many types of advanced manufacturing technologies will be used widely by the year 2000 and that their adoption is correlated with company size, net income, and gross sales volume. Functions and types of industrial robots forecasted for use are discussed as well as are timetables for the first use of various technologies. Industry-University cooperative research centers may best serve the needs of manufacturing firms by providing improved educational skills, improved information flow on assessment of technologies, and research in technologies likely to be implemented.

Working with Universities: Status Report on the NSF University/Industry Cooperative Research Centers

Working with Universities: Status Report on the NSF University/Industry Cooperative Research Centers

Improving Technological Innovation Through Laboratory/Industry Cooperative R&D

Even though the federal government is both a primary supporter and a major performer of research and development (R and D), only a small fraction of the results of this research is finding its way into commercial applications. A new system of linkages between laboratories and commercial firms might reorient the neation's R and D system through joint ventures, cooperative research centers, research consortia, or limited partnerships. The authors describe a number of institutional modifications needed to facilitate a more symbiotic relationship between public-supported research and private enterprise. They outline the barriers of patent and publication policies, of lack of communication, and of conflicts of interests as well as the prestige and financial incentives for both parties to seek mutually acceptable solutions. 24 references, 2 figures, 1 table.